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Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Banana-based Mini-Muffins

I once saw a meme that was a pancake recipe using bananas as the base ingredient. Unfortunately, that meme didn't credit the origin of the recipe.

These were very popular with my taste testers at work. Because they are sweet, adding something on the bitter side to balance that out might be very nice - like cocoa nibs or chopped up/ground hazelnuts.

In a food processor or Vita-Mix with the dry container, blend the bananas until creamy and the mixture rises with added air. Add ½ package frozen blueberries and blend until well mixed. This may need a little tamping to get started.

Pour this mixture into the bowl. The spatula helps get as much out as you can. Stir in ½ package frozen blueberries, 1 package dark chocolate chips, and 2 cups flour (I used almond meal - next time I plan on grinding 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats with 1 cup sunflower seeds instead.) I used the spatula to stir as the blueberries and chocolate chips wanted to stick to the sides of the bowl. Add more flour if the mixture seems too runny. It should clump.

Spoon into mini-muffin molds and tamp down. This filled 46 molds.

Dehydrate at 125° for about 10 hours. Take a knife around the edges of the molds to release any muffins stuck at the top edge. Flip the muffins directly onto the dehydrator grate. You may need to pop the bottom of each mold to get them out. Continue dehydrating for another 3 or 4 hours.

If you don't have confidence in the flip, use a second dehydrator grate on top to make a mini-muffin mold sandwich and then flip it all before removing the mold.

This can probably be baked at a low temp - like 200° - but I don’t know for how long offhand. Experimenting with time can be fun as you have to pop one out and eat it to test it each time you check.

These can also be placed in the freezer after dehydrating/baking to become mini-ice cream cakes.

If you don’t have molds, you can shape them however you like - cookies, bars, etc.